Senior Scientist (Organic Chemist-Oligonucleotide Delivery)

Career Category

Research

Job Description

Join Amgen’s Mission of Serving Patients

At Amgen, if you feel like you’re part of something bigger, it’s because you are. Our shared mission—to serve patients living with serious illnesses—drives all that we do.

Since 1980, we’ve helped pioneer the world of biotech in our fight against the world’s toughest diseases. With our focus on four therapeutic areas –Oncology, Inflammation, General Medicine, and Rare Disease– we reach millions of patients each year. Amgen is advancing a broad and deep pipeline of medicines to treat cancer, heart disease, inflammatory conditions, rare diseases, and obesity and obesity-related conditions. As a member of the Amgen team, you’ll help make a lasting impact on the lives of patients as we research, manufacture, and deliver innovative medicines to help people live longer, fuller happier lives.

Our award-winning culture is collaborative, innovative, and science based. If you have a passion for challenges and the opportunities that lay within them, you’ll thrive as part of the Amgen team. Join us and transform the lives of patients while transforming your career.

Senior Scientist (Organic Chemist-Oligonucleotide Delivery)

What you will do

Let’s do this. Let’s change the world.
Job Description

We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated organic chemist to join us in developing the next generation of RNA therapeutics and expand the synthetic capabilities of the Genetic Medicines group. This role supports Amgen’s pipeline of siRNA-based therapeutics. The chemist will be part of our oligonucleotide delivery team and utilize state-of-the-art methods to design and prepare novel delivery ligands, conjugation linkers, and nucleotides to chemically modify oligonucleotides for enhanced delivery and efficacy. The ideal candidate will have a diverse organic chemistry skillset with experience in small molecule and carbohydrate synthesis.

The candidate should be motivated to expand their skillset, have a flexible mindset and willing to learn oligonucleotide chemistry. The candidate will be responsible for performing hands-on ligand, linker/spacer, nucleotide, and oligonucleotide synthesis at mg-to-gram scales, including designing, purifying, analyzing synthetic products and optimizing synthetic protocols.

The role will include chemically modifying oligonucleotides and interacting with our diverse team of oligonucleotide chemists, conjugation chemists, protein chemists, and biologists to help discover novel delivery mechanisms and contribute to our therapeutic RNA pipeline.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and prepare novel delivery ligands, conjugation linkers, and nucleotides to chemically modify oligonucleotides for enhanced delivery and efficacy.
• Develop and optimize synthetic routes and purification strategies of molecular targets.
• Drive technical execution of projects from start to finish and perform hands-on synthesis, isolation, and characterization of molecules.
• Synthesize oligonucleotides that incorporate novel synthetic moieties and conjugate novel linkers and ligands to improve tissue distribution and stability.
• Develop scalable and reproducible workflows that support therapeutic platform advancement.
• Serve as a chemistry subject-matter expert (SME) in cross-functional team meetings.
• Train as needed, collaborate with the Genetic Medicines group and cross-functional teams to meet project objectives and timelines.
• Prepare research results for presentations, patent applications, and scientific publications.

What we expect of you

We are all different, yet we all use our unique contributions to serve patients. The successful candidate will bring strong expertise in organic chemistry and will work at the interface of molecular design, analytical characterization, and platform innovation. This scientist will collaborate across multidisciplinary teams to develop robust oligonucleotide synthetic modification technologies that improve therapeutic performance, stability, manufacturability, and translational potential. The passionate and dedicated professional we seek is a motivated research scientist with these qualifications.

Basic Qualifications:

Doctorate degree

OR

Master’s degree in synthetic organic chemistry or related discipline and 2 years of industry experience with expertise in small molecule or carbohydrate synthesis.  

OR

Bachelor’s degree synthetic organic chemistry or related discipline and 4 years of experience with expertise in small molecule or carbohydrate synthesis.  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Demonstrated hands on laboratory experience preparing a diverse range of synthetic compounds.
• Ability to collaborate with oligonucleotide chemists, conjugation chemists, and biologists to design and prepare molecules to chemically modify oligonucleotides.
• Experience with state of the art techniques and characterization of synthetic molecules.
• Must demonstrate ability to conduct independent research and have strong communication/teamwork skills in a dynamic environment.

What you can expect of us

As we work to develop treatments that take care of others, we also work to care for your professional and personal growth and well-being. From our competitive benefits to our collaborative culture, we’ll support your journey every step of the way.

The expected annual salary range for this role in the U.S. (excluding Puerto Rico) is posted. Actual salary will vary based on several factors including but not limited to, relevant skills, experience, and qualifications.

In addition to the base salary, Amgen offers a Total Rewards Plan, based on eligibility, comprising of health and welfare plans for staff and eligible dependents, financial plans with opportunities to save towards retirement or other goals, work/life balance, and career development opportunities that may include:

• A comprehensive employee benefits package, including a Retirement and Savings Plan with generous company contributions, group medical, dental and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts
• A discretionary annual bonus program, or for field sales representatives, a sales-based incentive plan
• Stock-based long-term incentives
• Award-winning time-off plans
• Flexible work models where possible. Refer to the Work Location Type in the job posting to see if this applies.

Apply now and make a lasting impact with the Amgen team.

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Application deadline

External/Internal postings:

Amgen does not have an application deadline for this position; we will continue accepting applications until we receive a sufficient number or select a candidate for the position.

Internal only posting (or Pre-ID candidate):

Amgen anticipates accepting applications however, we may continue accepting applications beyond this date if we do not receive a sufficient number of candidates.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for this role is not guaranteed.

As an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people around the world, Amgen fosters an inclusive environment of diverse, ethical, committed and highly accomplished people who respect each other and live the Amgen values to continue advancing science to serve patients. Together, we compete in the fight against serious disease.

Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. Amgen is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider you without regard to your race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability status.

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Salary Range

123,777.00USD -167,463.00 USD